Caroline Sanders

Sanders, Dr. Caroline

she/her

MBE; PhD; RN

Professor
Phone
Office
10-1553
Campus
Prince George

Biography

Dr. Sanders, MBE, is a Professor in the School of Nursing at UNBC. Having held a clinical academic position in the United Kingdom, Dr. Sanders remains an interdisciplinary scholar focusing on child health, rare conditions, and action-and-participant-orientated engagement. Research focuses on child and family health and well-being. Dr. Sanders applies qualitative and mixed-method approaches, specifically phenomenology, narrative inquiry, and participatory action research, often framed within patient-oriented research. Clinical-academic research methods focus on rare conditions and early childhood, explicitly focusing on developing and translating knowledge across healthcare and community boundaries. Research and international collaborations have focused on the experiences and impact of living with a rare condition, specifically how the medical landscape influences choice and informed decision-making. Caroline has a longstanding partnered research program within the field of variation in sex development with a focus on exploring the meaning and impact of living with a rare condition by uncovering the influences that shape gender, wellness, resilience, and long-term health outcomes.

Caroline’s long-standing research program concerns early childhood development, how knowledge is both created and taken up in practice to improve health in the early years for rural and northern children and their families and communities. Working with interdisciplinary providers, community partners, decision-makers, children, youth, and their families and young adults, scholarship focuses on discovery and applied science. Within a framework of compassionate systems leadership, Caroline is focused on understanding how the implementation and impact of relevant knowledge can be developed and used to evaluate healthcare approaches and interventions in academic and applied clinical contexts, such as decision-making, program engagement and evaluation. An emerging area of scholarship focuses on the nursing workforce in rural settings, specifically internationally-educated nurses, bridge education and employed student nurse positions.

Research and expertise

Research fields
  • Health
  • Health and Well-being
Areas of expertise
Early childhood, variations in sex development.
Languages spoken
  • English
Not accepting graduate students

Selected publications

Friesen, M., Josewski, V., Sanders, C. (2025) To explore the types of barriers that midwives face when practicing or attempting to practice in rural and remote locations. Journal Advanced Nursing http://doi.org/10.1111/jan.16737

Onororemu, O. E., & Sanders, C. (2024). Are pediatric practicum experiences a beneficial component of registered nurse education programs? Nursing students and new graduates weigh in: A qualitative descriptive research study. Nurse Education Today, 139, 106259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2024.106259

Pelletier, C., Cornish, K., Sanders, C. (2023). ‘There’s not a lot of places for them to go’: rural and remote family perspectives on children’s independent mobility. Children’s Geographies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2024.2302108

Koopmans, E., Provencher, L., Irving, L., & Sanders, C. (2022). Weaving a new blanket together: Lessons on compassionate leadership and engagement from a virtual regional summit on early childhood wellness in northern communities of British Columbia, Canada. Research Involvement and Engagement. https://researchinvolvement.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40900-022-00391-5

Sanders, C., Frank, T., Amyot, T., Cornish, K., Koopmans, E., Usipuik, M., Irving, L., & Pelletier, C. (2022). Day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal qualitative study with Canadian parents of young children. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491221115475

Magritte, E., Williams, J., Amyot, E., Usipuik, M., & Sanders, C. (2022). Listening to individuals “not doing surgery doesn’t mean doing nothing”. Horm Res Paediatr https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/525452

Usipuik, M., Sanders, C., Amyot, E., Banner, D., & Jones, T. (2022). Menstruation management and medication for people with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The Canadian Journal of Human sexual development. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjhs.2021-0043

Sanders, C., Amyot, E., Usipuik, M., Crawford, L., Callens, N., Chanoine, JP., & Jones, T. (2022). Lifespan healthcare transitions among individuals with intersex traits in Canada: A mixed methods and qualitative study. BMJ Open, e055759. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055759